MORTGAGE SALES SURGE TO UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS: MAY FIGURES

AFG, Australia’s largest mortgage broker, processed over $3.6 billion in mortgages last month – an increase of nearly 13% from an already record-breaking April figure of $3.2 billion.

AFG has 10% of the national mortgage market (Source: AFG and ABS data) and the indicative trends of its figures are typically confirmed by definitive ABS data six weeks later.

Demand for mortgages rose most strongly in WA, where mortgages processed increased by 17.7% over April, followed by Victoria (+14.6%), NSW (+10.9%), SA (+8.6%) and QLD (+7.2%).

Demand rose consistently across all buyer types – first home buyers, investors and borrowers looking to refinance. But compared to May 2012, there was a larger share of upgraders, who comprised 15.9% of all mortgage sales last month compared to 11.3% in May 2012.

Mark Hewitt, General Manager of Sales and Operations says: ‘We’ve seen a marked increase in borrowing activity since February. Borrowers of all types were encouraged by the further rate reduction in early May and the expectation that we’re in a low rate environment for some time to come. Reassuringly, the recent growth looks sustainable and we are not seeing the normal characteristics of a boom. The average new loan size is the same as it was over a year ago, LVRs are consistent, and in New South Wales and Queensland, first home buying activity is running at about a third of the long term average.’

Demand for fixed rate loans fell slightly from an all-time high in April, comprising 28.5% of all new mortgages, compared to 30.7% the month before.

Non-major lenders gained some market share during the month especially among borrowers seeking refinance where they comprised 27.1% of the market (up from 25.4% the month